Hostage
A hostage is an artificially intelligent NPC in the ''Counter-Strike'' series. Overview Hostages are the basis of the Hostage rescue scenario. After a group of Terrorists capture them, the Counter-Terrorists must safely escort them to a nearby Hostage rescue zone, while the Terrorists must prevent them from doing so. ''Counter-Strike'' A hostage will follow any Counter-Terrorist if the use key (default = E) is pressed on them. They will not stop following their rescuer until the use key is pressed again, the player is killed, or they get separated. Once a hostage has stopped, they will remain stationary. The AI was modified from the original NPC monster code used in Half-Life. Hostages are the only unique NPCs in the game. ''Counter-Strike: Condition Zero'' Turtle Rock Studios introduced new AI for the hostages. In addition to similarities of Counter-Strike, these hostages are able to wander around their detention point, escape on their own (though rarely), have different interactions when under fire and warn Counter-Terrorists of nearby Terrorists. They can also climb ladders, crawl into air vents, and traverse through other tight spaces. In fact, they will crouch and avoid being targeted if they are caught in the middle of a gunfight. They were also given a "coward attitude", which forces them to go back to their detention point if a Terrorist witnesses them attempting to escape or a firefight occurs in the area. Notably, hostages react differently to each team; hostages will shout and wave to get the attention of Counter-Terrorists while they will respond in fear by trembling if targeted by terrorists. If a hostage sees both a CT and senses a Terrorist nearby, that hostage will give off a warning by shaking his head silently and wait until the Terrorist is eliminated or has moved away. The hostages can also be interacted with from a distance. CTs can "select" a hostage by pointing the crosshair on a hostage and than press the "USE" key, which is useful when a Terrorist is nearby but not in the sight of the player or when the player is equipped with a Tactical shield. However, bots will always interact them at point blank range. Often times, they utter phrases such as "Why are you doing this?" and "I'll do whatever you want, just please don't hurt me" to any Terrorist while for the Counter-Terrorists, hostages will say "When can we get out of here?" and other quotes. The hostages are also sensitive to each type of grenade. If an HE grenade is thrown into their sight, they will shout, "Watch out! Grenades!", and they will run. If a Flashbang explodes in their sight, they will shout, "Oh my eyes!" and "I can't see!". If a Smoke grenade spreads near them, they will begin to cough. ''Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes'' Although unavailable in multiplayer games, hostages still exist in missions. All hostage rescue missions have different hostage models. For example, in the mission Recoil, the hostage is a Delta Force Sniper. He can climb ladders and fire his grabbed Steyr Scout. ''Counter-Strike: Source'' With the exception of new models and sounds, the hostages in Counter-Strike: Source are identical to the ones found in Counter-Strike. All changes made in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero are non-existent. Unlike the previous games where a CT can "steal" a hostage, in Source, if the player press the "USE" key while that hostage is already been commanded by another CT, nothing will happen. Also, unlike in Counter-Strike 1.6 where a hostage can become permanently stuck in one spot in a round (e.g. the sewers in Militia), the navigation of hostages have been improved to follow a leading CT. ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Before the March 21st 2013 update, the hostages behaved the same way as in Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source. They were completely static and did not react to their surroundings. The most notable change was their overall appearance. This includes having bandages covering their faces, have rope tying their hands together, and wear prison-like attire (similar to the Goldsrc games). On the March 21st update, however, the Hostage rescue scenario was completely overhauled. Now, hostage rescue maps only have two, rather than four, hostages. These NPCs are spawned randomly at designated areas (generally near the Terrorist spawn zone). This spot is then used for the hostages for the entirety of the match. The hostages still remain in the same spot, but now they kneel down rather than stand up. Moreover, they are immobile so they will not follow a CT operative, they do not speak and are invincible to damage but harming hostages still incurs a cash penalty. All damage to the hostage no matter where on the body you hit is the same as chest/arm damage. The rules have been changed as well. In order for the Counter-Terrorists to win the round, only one hostage needs to be rescued (although it is possible to rescue more than one). (Militia)]] But, the player must carry this hostage in order to rescue them. Even before that, they must "untie" his hands, taking four seconds (one with the new Rescue kit). Upon carrying a hostage, a notification will appear to all players that a hostage is being escorted. The Counter-Terrorist carrying the hostage can still use his weapons but his movement speed will be drastically reduced. However, an extra minute is given to compensate for this. If someone is killed while carrying a hostage, the hostage will be "dropped" at the spot and remain unharmed. This overhaul to the game mode was in order to make it more balanced, an issue since the original Counter-Strike. There is also a reused radio announcement from the Beta and retail version of Counter-Strike that broadcasts "Hostage down!" when a player kills a hostage. Currency Tasks Rewards Penalties Counter-Strike, Condition Zero and Counter-Strike: Source penalties Counter-Strike: Global Offensive cash penalty values Gallery Achivements ''Counter-Strike: Source'' Rescue ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Team Tactics Trivia *In older versions of Counter-Strike, hostages could also be moved by Terrorists. This allowed the hostages to be used as human shields and steps to reach normally unavailable spots (i.e. the light in the hostage room of Assault). *Four of the Counter-Strike hostage models use Half-Life scientist models. While all of them share the same animations as the Half-Life scientists, it appears the hostages use the scientists coding and modified A.I. *The Counter-Strike: Source hostage facemaps are reused from the facemaps of Half-Life 2 characters and beta characters: **Hostage 1 re-uses the facemap of the cut character Samuel, model male 05 in the citizen list. **Hostage 2 re-uses the facemap of Winston, model male 06 in the citizen list. **Hostage 3 re-uses the facemap of the cut character Captain Vance, model male 08 in the citizen list. **Hostage 4 re-uses Dr. Kleiner's beta facemap, "Cohrt". *Hostages are the only humans/faction in Counter-Strike: Source who do have facial expressions animations while all other humans/factions have a static expression. This does not apply for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as hostages have static expressions. *Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is currently the only CS game that includes "enhanced" hostages that have considerably better A.I. guidance system than the other CS games. *With practice and skill, it is possible to decrease a hostage's health to 0% without killing one. External links *Hostage at Wikipedia Category:Gameplay Category:Factions